15 Creative Tips on How to Take Travel Aesthetic Pictures for Your Instagram Feed

• Instagram
• Pinterest

This post is about travel aesthetic pictures.

Ever seen stunning travel aesthetic pictures on Instagram and want to make your feed look similar? You are not alone! Throughout this post, I not only show some of my favorite types of photos to take while I travel, but I also explain the details behind the frame.

The two goals for taking travel aesthetic pictures I stick to are to capture my surroundings and to capture the memories I create while I travel.

Traveling is supposed to take you outside of your comfort zone and place you into a whole different part of the world. Focus on the experience before you focus on taking the perfect photo. 

These photos and tips are here for inspiration on creating your own travel aesthetic pictures. So read through the rest of this post and get started on capturing your own travel memories!

If you are looking for tips on how to take amazing pictures, then you should definitely check out my post on 11 Easy Travel Photography Tips.

Silhouette Pictures

Silhouette pictures are some of my absolute favorite to take. Not only can you get some amazing colors during sunset, but it just brings a sort of magical feeling to your photos. This day was such a memorable one, so I definitely wanted to capture it in a special way.

Listen, not only is this one of my favorite pictures of me, it is also a great memory! And plus, everyone knows you need evidence whenever you wake up before the sun rises.

Action Shots

Action shots, candid shots. Whatever you want to call them. These are some of my favorite because you capture the activity, the genuine feelings of the moment. Action shots are also pretty fun to take too. There’s no need to stop what you are doing to pose for a photo. You just snap and move. It’s a great one when you don’t want to disturb what’s going on around you.

Pictures of Strangers

Obviously do this legally. I’m pretty sure you could get in some trouble if you just go around taking pictures of random people. My rule of thumb is if you can’t identify them in the photo, then it is a safe enough photo to post.

I also love the idea of capturing people in their everyday life. You aren’t hindering them by getting them to pose. They are just going about their day and living life as they would usually do. It’s a great insight into learning about how other people act and move and feel. These are some of my favorites. Surfers hunting for the next wave and a man with a basket on his way to the market.

Airport Pictures

Now these are pretty popular ones. Anytime you are traveling, great photo ideas are everywhere. But the airport is the perfect spot for some inspiration. Passports, boarding passes, luggage, airplane windows. These are all amazing shots to document your travels.

Especially if you travel a lot like me. I make it a tradition to take a picture of the book that I am reading while I sit at the gate and wait for my plane to board. I always travel with my red backpack, so that’s always in the shot as well.

Food Pictures

The camera eats first! Always! My ideology is what’s the point in paying to eat out if you aren’t going to take a photo of it. My budget for food is also my budget for photos. There is no point in going to a fancy restaurant that makes their food look beautiful only to not take a photo of it!

In Transit

This one is always a bit more challenging to take since you are usually in a hurry when you are boarding and traveling from place to place. But taking photos on public transport is one of my favorites to capture! It catches the mundaneness of travel. You don’t just teleport to each beautiful place. You have to work to get there. And sometimes that looks like spending hours on a train.

Sunset

Who doesn’t love a good sunset photo? The colors are unreal, and it truly showcases how magical the world truly is. It’s all natural. The sky created that canvas of color. We are just helpless bystanders to its greatness. There is no more magical time than when the sun sets and lights the sky ablaze.

In the Middle of a Field

I love these ones! It’s a great way to showcase how vast the landscape is by placing a small subject right in the middle. It also shows the lack of people around you which is what we always strive for when taking travel photos. And obviously this can be a field or a desert as shown in the two photos here.

Group Shots

There are so many ways to capture groups in pictures, so why be boring? My best friend and I always make sure to take a piggy back photo. It’s become a bit of a tradition over the years, and I love having those memories saved forever.

The picture below is the perfect example of how to be different with posing. We took an average pose and elevated it. Literally! Standing on top of a Jeep and capturing the mountains was such a fun memory that I’ll remember forever.

New Perspective of Buildings

I’ve always had a hard time photographing buildings to make them look interesting. But I also am so happy when I take the time to focus on how I can capture them creatively. Whether that’s playing with the foreground or shooting from a lower angle, there are tons of fun ways to photograph your average building.

Markets!

Markets are always a fun and vibrant place to experience. So why not take some photos along the way? I love starting with exposition shots. Capturing everything in a wider frame and then bouncing in closer for more detailed shots. This is a great place to photograph unique things on display, and an even better place to photograph strangers (legally!!).

Mirrors

Skip the average mirror selfies and try something new! Whether it’s to capture your outfit or a different reflection, mirrors are a great tool to get creative! I always love finding reflections or fun mirrors at markets or restaurants. The ideas with mirrors are endless.

Windows, Doors, and Arches

Shapes, shapes, shapes. There’s doorways, arches, and windows which are amazing ways to capture the world around you. It’s almost like looking through another lens outside of your camera lens. My favorite way to use doorways or arches are to give the photo a way to focus on the subject. But maybe that’s just the film school nerd talking.

Wildlife

Wildlife is so much fun to photograph, but it does require a lot of patience. They aren’t going to stand still and pose (okay maybe the sleeping seals will). But it’s also fun to see what you capture even by accident sometimes. Just make sure that you bring a long enough lens! And deep your distance, so you don’t put yourself or the animals in danger.

Flowers / Vegetation

There are so many reasons to photograph the life around you. Literally stop and smell the roses when you travel. Focusing on the small details when you travel allows you to slow down. Take a breath and actually look around you instead of running to the next stop on the itinerary.

Whether it’s a garden festival or a national park known for its vegetation, capturing the growing life near you is a great way to change the subject of your photos.

Travel Aesthetic Pictures

The goal for this post is to give you inspiration on how to create your own travel aesthetic pictures. However, I also want to prioritize the importance that your photos should express YOU. Trying to replicate other people’s photos steals away the uniqueness you as an individual. 

The most important thing to remember is that you are taking photos to create memories. These photos act as a portal back to those days of you traveling the world. You don’t want to remember how long it took you to replicate that one photo you saw on Instagram get three million likes. IT DOESN’T MATTER!

In the end, take the photos you want to take. These are your memories you will look back on.

If you want more travel aesthetic picture inspiration, go check out my Pinterest here!

This post is all about travel aesthetic pictures.